How anterior pelvic tilt affects the lower extremity kinematics during the late swing phase in soccer players while running: A time series analysis

Anterior pelvic tilt has been proposed to predispose the hamstring in soccer players to injury at the late swing phase during a sprint, however the mechanism on how the changes in the alignment would affect the kinematics are still unclear. Thirty-four male amateur soccer players were recruited for this study. Pelvic tilt was measured using the DIERS Formetric 4D. Lower extremity angles were recorded using an 8-camera Vicon motion capture system at 200 Hz while the athlete performed a high speed run on a motorised treadmill. Late swing phase was extracted from 5 running cycle which were later analysed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). The results show that the increase of anterior pelvic tilt angle was significantly correlated with hip (r = −0.421 to −0.462, p = 0.015) and knee flexion (r = −0.424 to −0.472, p = 0.026) values. No other correlation was found between the anterior pelvic tilt and the angles at the coronal plane. By using time series analysis it was shown that the anterior pelvic tilt measured in a standing position would affect the adjacent segments’ kinematics while running as suggested in the kinetic chain theory; which would potentially predispose the soccer athletes to hamstring injury by maintaining knee extension.     

Neural correlates of feigned memory impairment are distinguishable from answering randomly and answering incorrectly: an fMRI and behavioral study

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified activation in the prefrontal-parietal-sub-cortical circuit during feigned memory impairment when comparing with truthful telling. Here, we used fMRI to determine whether neural activity can differentiate between answering correctly, answering randomly, answering incorrectly, and feigned memory impairment. In this study, 12 healthy subjects underwent block-design fMRI while they performed digit task of forced-choice format under four conditions: answering correctly, answering randomly, answering incorrectly, and simulated feigned memory impairment. There were three main results. First, six areas, including the left prefrontal cortex, the left superior temporal lobe, the right postcentral gyrus, the right superior parietal cortex, the right superior occipital cortex, and the right putamen, were significantly modulated by condition type. Second, for some areas, including the right superior parietal cortex, the right postcentral gyrus, the right superior occipital cortex, and the right putamen, brain activity was significantly greater in feigned memory impairment than answering randomly. Third, for the areas including the left prefrontal cortex and the right putamen, brain activity was significantly greater in feigned memory impairment than answering incorrectly. In contrast, for the left superior temporal lobe, brain activity was significantly greater in answering incorrectly than feigned memory impairment. The results suggest that neural correlates of feigned memory impairment are distinguishable from answering randomly and answering incorrectly in healthy subjects.